Mick Clifford: Carlow’s shooting tragedy forces a reckoning with how justice is administered
Gardaí had initially objected to bail for Evan Fitzgerald, aged 22, after he was caught last year with guns and ammunition which he admitted to having bought on the so-called 'dark web'. Picture: Garda Press Office
The death of Evan Fitzgerald on 1 June was a shocking development in this country. The 22-year-old discharged a shotgun in a supermarket in the Fair Green Shopping Centre in Carlow and later died of a self-inflicted wound.
In the first instance it was a terrible tragedy for him and his family. The circumstances, however, ensured that it impacted hugely on the national psyche. Initially, there were suspected echoes of the gun violence that has become a feature of other countries, most particularly the USA, in which a disturbed individual kills others in a crowded setting before turning the gun on himself. Thankfully, this is one of the few western countries that has so far avoided such horror.
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